Magnificent Proper leaps into final

RISING star Kelly Proper from Waterford lit up the Oval Lingotto arena in Turin yesterday with an inspiring performance during an incredibly successful morning for the Irish.

Proper has been showing promise as a long jumper for many years but yesterday she reached new levels when she smashed her own Irish record with a leap of 6.59 metres, 15 centimetres better than she ever achieved before.

She thus became the first Irish long jumper to reach a final of a major event since Ciaran McDonagh from Meath at the 1999 World Outdoor Championship in Seville. She takes part in tonight’s eight-strong final.

20-year-old Proper came back with a vengeance in her second leap after getting the red flag with her opening attempt.

Proper magnificently cut the sand at 6.59 metres, having again brushed with danger as she fractionally kept herself from again fouling at the take-off board.

Proper had earlier seen her young team mates excelling, with Marian Andrews from Cork and Brona Furlong from Wexford both running the fastest times of their lives to qualify for the semi-finals of the women’s 400 metres.

“They gave me great motivation,” said Proper.

Proper’s progress in the long jump over the last 18 months has been spectacular, adding 40 centimetres to her best from January 2008.

“I’m just so happy,” she said yesterday. “I came here full of hope and a lot of determination but to qualify for a European final like that gives me such satisfaction and now I want to go into the final and do myself justice again.”

It was always on the cards that the Waterford woman would jump this far.

Last summer she broke Terri Horgan’s 16-year-old Irish outdoor Irish record with a jump of 6.51m which was her career best up to yesterday, having meanwhile improved on her indoor mark with 6.44m when winning the British title in Sheffield last month.

“Kelly is just an extremely talented athlete,” said Brid Golden (nee Hallissey) who coaches Kelly along with her husband, Alan. “We made some adjustments to her jumping over the last year and right now she is just beginning to reap the rewards of that work.

“Kelly is a very determined athlete and is also very committed and dedicated and when she gets stronger in the next couple of years she can only get better and better.

“She is in the final but won’t be happy with that. She’ll want to do better.”

Alan Golden said one of the prime reasons the Irish performed so well yesterday was because the preparations were excellent. “Everyone came out here well in advance to give them a chance to rest up,” he said.

“The hotel is excellent and close to the arena and team manager, Patsy McGonagle, has generated a very relaxed and confident group of athletes.”